Various types of well tools commonly used in oil and/or gas well production strings include sliding or shifting members that are required to be selectively actuated. For example, sliding sleeve valves generally include a sleeve, which is selectively shifted to open or close ports to provide communication from or shut off communication between the bore of a production string and the well annulus.
In some applications, particulate materials such as sand and other wellbore debris are produced to the surface during the extraction of hydrocarbons from a well that traverses unconsolidated or loosely consolidated subterranean formations. To prevent the production of such particulate material to the surface, unconsolidated or loosely consolidated production intervals in the well are often gravel packed. In a typical gravel pack operation, a completion string including a packer, a circulation valve, a fluid loss control device and one or more sand control screens, is lowered into the wellbore to a position proximate the desired production interval. A service tool is then positioned within the completion string and a fluid slurry that includes a liquid carrier and a particulate material (i.e., gravel) is then pumped through the circulation valve and into the well annulus formed between the sand control screens and the perforated well casing or open hole production zone. The liquid carrier either flows into the adjacent formation or returns to the surface by flowing through the sand control screens, or both. In either case, the gravel is deposited around the sand control screens to form a gravel pack, which is highly permeable to the flow of hydrocarbon fluids but simultaneously blocks the flow of particulate materials often suspended in the hydrocarbon fluids. As such, gravel packs can successfully prevent the problems associated with the production of particulate materials from the formation.
During the gravel packing operation, the service tool is often moved between various positions with respect to the completion string. For instance, the service tool typically has one or more shifting tools that can be used to move sliding sleeves associated with the completion string between open and closed configurations. Opening a circulating sleeve arranged in the circulation valve, for example, may expose one or more corresponding circulation ports that place the interior of the service tool in fluid communication with an annulus defined between the completion string and an adjacent formation. Upon removing the service tool from the completion string, it is often required to move various sleeves to their corresponding closed positions.
Some shifting tools traditionally operate based on hydraulic systems that utilize a “normally open” solenoid as a failsafe measure. Hydraulic systems can be expensive to build and maintain. Moreover, during use, heat and high pressure conditions in hydraulic systems can present safety hazards.